In this deeply personal and unflinchingly honest conversation, host Mireya sits down with her lifelong best friend, Callie Boyette, as they explore the complex, often unseen and overlooked realities of parenting a severely autistic child. Together, they trace Callie’s journey from the early stages of diagnosis through the daily challenges of caregiving, navigating a world that lacks resources and access to affordable autistic childcare, while persevering through the stigmas their families face.

Callie shares the emotional toll of being a parent on constant high alert: the accumulated stress, the PTSD, the effects on her marriage, and the ripple effects on her other two young children. We unpack the broader societal dynamics, the isolation of families raising autistic children, the struggles within the autism community itself, the lack of representation for Level III autistic individuals and the crushing costs of care.

This episode holds space for truth, grief, resilience and hope. Looking towards the future, we envision practical, compassionate systems of support that could ease the struggle and honor the full humanity of both autistic children and their caregivers.